Nigel Farage has caused outrage after he attempted to speak out against the removal of Edward Colston's statue in Bristol because the slave trader was a 'philanthropist'.
During an appearance on Good Morning Britain on Tuesday, the Brexit Party leader lashed out at the protestors who removed the statue of Colston and dumped it into a river because of the violent manner in which they did it.
Addressing Farage, host Piers Morgan said:
You agreed with the German democratic decision to remove Adolf Hitler statues.
If it's right for Germany to remove statues of Hitler, who oppressed their people, why is it wrong for the people of Bristol to say that they don't want to have Edward Colston's statue to stay up given that he was a slave owner and a slave trader, responsible for the deaths of 20,000 people?
In response, Farage said:
Because they did it as a violent mob, making their own decisions on what they thought was right and wrong. Bear in mind that Edward Colston made a lot of money out of the Royal African Company, he then was a big philanthropist and there are many public buildings all over Bristol named after Edward Colston.
Other guests that were part of the debate could be heard saying 'how dare you' and 'Jimmy Saville was a philanthropist' while Farage was giving his answer.
One of the guests, Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu then gave Farage both barrels after he tried to claim that Black Lives Matter was a 'far-left Marxist' organisation, telling him that "the only thing you are an expert in is talking out of your backside because everything you say stinks."
.@SholaMos1, @Nigel_Farage and @KateWilliamsme engage in a heated debate about whether controversial statues be rem… https://t.co/GK8i10PsmY— Good Morning Britain (@Good Morning Britain) 1591691247
Farage's name was soon trending on Twitter following this exchange with many applaud at what the former leader of UKIP had said with others reveling in the sight of Farage having his backside handed to him.
Nigel Farage is a particularly pungent skidmark on the underpants of Britain. Nobody can be genuinely surprised by… https://t.co/hsvZyzghuz— James Oh Brien (@James Oh Brien) 1591692967
Nigel Farage comparing #BlackLivesMatter, a movement of peace and justice, to the Taliban is beyond a disgrace. He… https://t.co/4h5iT5SbWS— Prof Kate Williams 💙 (@Prof Kate Williams 💙) 1591691177
It’s absolutely delicious to see the historically illiterate & wizened has-been Nazi, Nigel Farage, getting his fas… https://t.co/iAHxMfT57i— Miffy🏳️🌈 (@Miffy🏳️🌈) 1591689976
Nigel Farage compairs BLM to the Taliban and thinks Edward Colston was a great philanthropist! He is the leader of… https://t.co/JjkDHEw55a— ⭐ (@⭐) 1591691887
Next week Nigel Farage pops up on #GMB to explain how Jimmy Saville did a lot of good work for charity and how the… https://t.co/uuGGAYc9ax— Otto English (@Otto English) 1591689057
Nigel Farage is really showing himself up this morning you know. Actively defending a whole slave trader as a “phil… https://t.co/grgOoQNWPz— Funmi-Nkem (@Funmi-Nkem) 1591686951
Even Morgan had a pop at him.
BREAKING: Nigel Farage just told @GMB that Germany was right to remove Hitler statues... .. but racial inequality… https://t.co/dyffOS9cQt— Piers Morgan (@Piers Morgan) 1591687876
Farage had compared the protesters who took part in demonstrations across the UK last weekend to the Taliban and called upon the government to act quickly. Still, if Farage is so keen on retrieving the statue perhaps he can ask these chaps who were pictured on Monday actually trying to fish the statue out of Bristol harbour.